Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
—That on the fth day of the calm, all on board suering much from the heat,
and want of water, and ve having died in ts, and mad, the negroes became
irritable, and for a chance gesture, which they deemed suspicious—though it was
harmless—made by the mate, Raneds, to the deponent in the act of handing a
quadrant, they killed him; but that for this they afterwards were sorry, the mate
being the only remaining navigator on board, except the deponent.
* * * * *
—That omitting other events, which daily happened, and which can only
serve uselessly to recall past misfortunes and conicts, after seventy-three
days’ navigation, reckoned from the time they sailed from Nasca, during which
they navigated under a scanty allowance of water, and were aicted with the
calms before mentioned, they at last arrived at the island of Santa Maria, on the
seventeenth of the month of August, at about six o’clock in the afternoon, at which
hour they cast anchor very near the American ship, Bachelor’s Delight, which lay
in the same bay, commanded by the generous Captain Amasa Delano; but at six
o’clock in the morning, they had already descried the port, and the negroes became
uneasy, as soon as at distance they saw the ship, not having expected to see one
there; that the negro Babo pacied them, assuring them that no fear need be had;
that straightway he ordered the gure on the bow to be covered with canvas, as for
repairs and had the decks a little set in order; that for a time the negro Babo and the
negro Atufal conferred; that the negro Atufal was for sailing away, but the negro
Babo would not, and, by himself, cast about what to do; that at last he came to the
deponent, proposing to him to say and do all that the deponent declares to have
said and done to the American captain; * * * * * * * that the negro Babo warned him
that if he varied in the least, or uttered any word, or gave any look that should give
the least intimation of the past events or present state, he would instantly kill him,
with all his companions, showing a dagger, which he carried hid, saying something
which, as he understood it, meant that that dagger would be alert as his eye; that
the negro Babo then announced the plan to all his companions, which pleased
them; that he then, the better to disguise the truth, devised many expedients, in
some of them uniting deceit and defense; that of this sort was the device of the
six Ashantees before named, who were his bravoes; that them he stationed on the
break of the poop, as if to clean certain hatchets (in cases, which were part of the
cargo), but in reality to use them, and distribute them at need, and at a given word
he told them; that, among other devices, was the device of presenting Atufal, his
right hand man, as chained, though in a moment the chains could be dropped; that
in every particular he informed the deponent what part he was expected to enact
in every device, and what story he was to tell on every occasion, always threatening
him with instant death if he varied in the least: that, conscious that many of the
negroes would be turbulent, the negro Babo appointed the four aged negroes, who
were calkers, to keep what domestic order they could on the decks; that again and
again he harangued the Spaniards and his companions, informing them of his
intent, and of his devices, and of the invented story that this deponent was to tell;
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